WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A New Zealand man has been accused of assault with prickly weapon - a hedgehog. Police allege that William Singalargh picked up the hedgehog and threw it several yards to hit a 15-year-old boy in the North Island east coast town of Whakatane on Feb. 9.

"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," police Senior Sgt. Bruce Jenkins said Monday. The teen did not need medical treatment, he added.

The Herald on Sunday newspaper reported that it was not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time of the attack, but that it was dead when collected as evidence.

Jenkins said Singalargh, 27, was arrested shortly after the incident on a charge of assault with a weapon. He is expected to appear in court again on April 17.

His lawyer, Rebecca Plunket, said Singalargh intends to plead innocent. The maximum penalty for the charge is five years in prison.

While using a hedgehog as a weapon in an assault is uncommon, Jenkins said, "People often get charged with assault for throwing things at other people."

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

...Now this is my kind of a casino giveaway.......a truckload of gas !

W.Va. Casino to Give Away Tanker of Gas

Apr 7, 5:20 PM (ET)

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - A free tank of gas? That's nothing. A West Virginia casino is giving away a tanker of fuel. Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack spokeswoman Kim Florence said one lucky person will win about 9,000 gallons of gas or $15,000 in cash on April 18.

And with the price of gasoline at a record $3.41 a gallon in the Mountain State, the petrol could be worth almost $31,000.

You could really go places with that - like around the world nearly eight times if your car averages 22 miles per gallon.

That's a lot of trips to the grocery store.

Players can earn entries for the grand prize drawing at the track this Friday and next.

And don't worry about making parking arrangements for the tanker. Florence says the winner won't be taking one home. He or she will be receiving gift cards.

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - It might be a good time to make strategic use of a yellow card.

New York contemporary artist Spencer Tunick has gained notoriety worldwide for photographing thousands of people in the nude. Now he's planning to pack a Vienna soccer stadium with 2,008 naked fans in the run-up to the Euro 2008 tournament.

Austria's national railway said Thursday it will offer free travel to the first 2,008 men and women who sign up to bare it all for the May 11 spectacle.

Tunick wants to pose them on the field inside Ernst Happel Stadium, where the tournament final will be played. Austria and Switzerland are co-hosting the event, which runs from June 7-29.

"2,008 naked people would be super!" said Katharina Murschetz of Kunsthalle Wien, a prestigious Vienna art exhibition center that is organizing the mass-nudity display.

The Brooklyn-based artist has grabbed headlines for draping naked bodies on glaciers, in front of the United Nations, in downtown Amsterdam, Netherlands, on hotel balconies overlooking Miami Beach's famed South Beach and in more than 70 other locations from Montreal to Melbourne, Australia.

....prolly gonna be some sproikage, too !?!

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

I don't like spiders and snakes...as the old Jim Stafford song said...but this woman thought the rats and snakes were her friends.......kinda like some thought JR was (a friend).

Woman Found Living With Rats and Snakes

Apr 10, 6:26 PM (ET)

ROCHESTER, Wash. (AP) - Authorities say a woman has been found living with hundreds of rats and four malnourished snakes in a home outside Rochester.

Thurston County Animal Services Director Susanne Beauregard says an official from the Area Agency on Aging alerted authorities about a month ago, but the woman has been uncooperative. She says the woman calls the rats her friends.

On Wednesday a search warrant was obtained and officers found the floor covered with rat droppings and the carpets soggy with rat urine. Beauregard says two malnourished boa constrictors, a corn snake and a king snake were seized from cages.

Investigators believe the woman bought some rats to feed the boa constrictors, but they got loose and filled the house with their offspring.

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

"Is that an iguana in your leg.............or are you just happy to see me ?"

Man Acquitted of Smuggling Iguanas

Apr 12, 12:27 AM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A jury acquitted a man of smuggling endangered iguanas in his hollowed-out prosthetic leg but convicted him of concealing and possessing the endangered species.

The jury rejected charges Thursday that Jereme James stole Fiji Island banded iguanas while visiting the South Pacific in September 2002. The neon-green-striped iguana is an endangered species, prosecutors said.

However, James faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison when sentenced July 14.

An e-mail message to James' lawyer Friday was not immediately returned.

During an undercover probe, James told investigators he had sold three iguanas for $32,000, prosecutors said. Four iguanas were seized when a search warrant was served at his house in April.

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

Unkle Jackie don't 'Digg'. too much else going on and I don't want to spend any more time on the computer.

I don't 'myspace' either, but I do spend too much time on 'youtube'...lol

I spend more time than I should on http://www.explorerforum.com ,,,,,there's a lot of Ford explorer people who get shafted when they go to their local "Stealership". I try to work them through their problems, especially automatic transmissions. no time for levity when someone has just dropped $2000 on a transmission rebuild and it still won't work.

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - On Web sites touting the mind-blowing powers of Salvia divinorum, come-ons to buy the hallucinogenic herb are accompanied by warnings: "Time is running out!" and "stock up while you still can."

That's because salvia is being targeted by lawmakers concerned that the inexpensive and easy-to-obtain plant could become the next marijuana. Eight states have already placed restrictions on salvia, and 16 others, including Florida, are considering a ban or have previously.

"As soon as we make one drug illegal, kids start looking around for other drugs they can buy legally. This is just the next one," said Florida state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, who has introduced a bill to make possession of salvia a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Some say legislators are overreacting to a minor problem, but no one disputes that the plant impairs judgment and the ability to drive.

Native to Mexico and still grown there, Salvia divinorum is generally smoked but can also be chewed or made into a tea and drunk.

Called nicknames like Sally-D, Magic Mint and Diviner's Sage, salvia is a hallucinogen that gives users an out-of-body sense of traveling through time and space or merging with inanimate objects. Unlike hallucinogens like LSD or PCP, however, salvia's effects last for a shorter time, generally up to an hour.

Salvia divinorum is not one of the several varieties of common ornamental garden plants known as Salvia.

No known deaths have been attributed to salvia's use, but it was listed as a factor in one Delaware teen's suicide two years ago.

"Parents, I would say, are pretty clueless," * said Jonathan Appel, an assistant professor of psychology and criminal justice at Tiffin University in Ohio who has studied the emergence of the substance. "It's much more powerful than marijuana."

Salvia's short-lasting effects and the fact that it is currently legal may make it seem more appealing to teens, lawmakers say. In the Delaware suicide, the boy's mother told reporters that salvia made his mood darker but he justified its use by citing its legality. According to reports, the autopsy found no traces of the drug in his system, but the medical examiner listed it as a contributing cause.

Mike Strain, Louisiana's Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner and former legislator, helped his state in 2005 become the first to make salvia illegal, along with a number of other plants. He said the response has been largely positive.

"I got some hostile e-mails from people who sold these products," Strain said. "You don't make everybody happy when you outlaw drugs. You save one child and it's worth it."

An ounce of salvia leaves sells for around $30 on the Internet. A liquid extract from the plant, salvinorin A, is also sold in various strengths labeled "5x" through "60x." A gram of the 5x strength, about the weight of a plastic pen cap, is about $12 while 60x strength is around $65. And in some cases the extract comes in flavors including apple, strawberry and spearmint.

Web sites such as Salviadragon.com tout the product with images like a waterfall and rainbow and include testimonials like "It might sound far fetched, but I experience immortality."

Among those who believe the commotion over the drug is overblown is Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit group that does research on psychedelic drugs and whose goal is to develop psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medication.

"I think the move to criminalize is a misguided response to a very minimal problem," Doblin said.

Doblin said salvia isn't "a party drug,""tastes terrible" and is "not going to be extremely popular." He disputes the fact teens are its main users and says older users are more likely.

"It's a minor drug in the world of psychedelics," he said.

It's hard to say how widespread the use of salvia is. Because it is legal in most states, law enforcement officials don't compile statistics.

A study of released last month by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services found just under 2 percent of people age 18 to 25 surveyed in 2006 reported using salvia in the past year. A 2007 survey of more than 1,500 San Diego State University students found that 4 percent of participants reported using salvia in the past year.

Brandenburg's bill would make salvia and its extract controlled substances in the same class as marijuana and LSD.

Florida state Sen. Evelyn Lynn, whose committee unanimously passed the salvia bill on Tuesday, said the drug should be criminalized.

"I'd rather be at the front edge of preventing the dangers of the drug than waiting until we are the 40th or more," she said.

*aren't most parents clueless ?

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

Life is Serious: Colonoscopy --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've had this procedure done too many times. Now I find different medical fields are 'arguing' over who's best to do the procedure...lol !

New Colon Cancer Screening Guides Issued

Thursday March 6, 5:50 PM EST

ATLANTA (AP) — Medical experts recommended Wednesday that a less invasive procedure known as a virtual colonoscopy and a stool DNA test join the arsenal of screenings for colon cancer in the hopes that more people would get checked out.

The recommendations bring to six the number of screening tests suggested for spotting signs of colon cancer, said Dr. Otis Brawley, national chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, one of the groups that made the recommendations.

The tests range in price from a few dollars to several hundred. Which test is best for patients depend on several factors, including what their insurer covers and the preference of their primary care doctor, experts said.

Only one company has a stool DNA test on the market — EXACT Sciences Corp. of Marlborough, Mass. The medical groups delayed releasing the recommendations until markets closed Wednesday because they were concerned it would affect trading, Brawley said.

The recommendations may also mean more business for radiologists. There has been something of a turf battle between gastroenterologists, who perform colonoscopies, and radiologists, who handle virtual colonoscopies.The new guidelines represent an agreement that both are valuable ways to diagnose and prevent colon cancer, Brawley said.

These first consensus guidelines were released by the Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology, and the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer.

The latter group comprises representatives from the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Gastroenterological Association and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

The recommendations came out the same day as a medical study that found that flat growths on the colon wall are more common in Americans than previously thought. Researchers concluded that the growths are more likely to be cancerous than the more familiar knobby masses known as polyps.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested that more careful colorectal cancer screening is necessary.

However, Brawley said the release of the new recommendations was coincidental and not driven by the study's findings.

Colorectal cancer is the nation's second leading cancer killer. It will kill about 50,000 people in the United States this year, the Cancer Society estimates. Screenings are designed to save lives by finding growths before they turn cancerous.

Traditional colonoscopies, long considered the gold standard test, are recommended every 10 years, starting at age 50. A doctor snakes a long, thin tube equipped with a small video camera through the large intestine to view the lining. The doctors also can use the device to cut away a tissue sample or even remove a polyp.

However, colonoscopies come with risks, including a chance that a doctor will accidentally puncture the colon. Also, many people have balked at getting screened because the test is expensive and they perceive it as unpleasant.

A virtual colonoscopy is a sort of super X-ray of the colon and rectum. Air is pumped into the colon to stretch it, and then a special CT scan is done. It is not invasive, but if a polyp is found, doctors will have to perform an optical colonoscopy in order to take a biopsy.

The biggest issue is not which screening a patient should get, but that patients come in for screening. All colon cancer deaths can be averted through screening and early treatment, but only 30 percent of people recommended to get screenings actually do, according to the Cancer Society.

"The challenge we have is getting people to participate in screenings," said Jack Mandel, an Emory University epidemiologist who has studied colon cancer screening tests. "We can prevent these deaths."

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

Colonoscopy Humor. May as Well Try to Have Fun ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

this came to me in an email, I've seen it somewhere before and it's still funny !

-----------------------------------------------------------------------A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:

13. "Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Anchorage police have arrested a suspect in an armed robbery. Now they're trying to determine if the weapon involved was a spork - a hybrid of a spoon and fork found at fast-food restaurants.

Police said a suspect tried to grab a man's watch on Monday night.

The victim said the assailant swung a pocketknife at him but four parallel scratches on the victim's side make police suspect the wound was administered with a spork.

Peter Albert, 52, was arrested a few blocks from the scene and charged with robbery. Police said Albert was intoxicated and carrying a small pocketknife as well as a backpack containing a fast food bag and sporks.

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) - A man wearing a ski mask held up an eastern Kentucky ice cream store with a stapler, and briefly got away with $175.

Police identified the stapler bandit as Gerald A. Rocchi, 32, who was arrested shortly after he allegedly flashed a chrome-plated stapler at an employee of The Ice Cream Shop in Ashland on Tuesday and demanded money.

Ashland Police Capt. Don Petrella said he didn't know if Rocchi planned to shoot staples at the shop's employees or use it as a blunt instrument if he didn't get the cash. It didn't come to that because the employees handed over the cash, Petrella said.

Several witnesses saw Rocchi leave the shop and told police where he was headed, Petrella said. After arresting Rocchi, police searched his house and found money, a stapler and a ski mask, Petrella said.

Petrella said the chrome finish on the stapler could have made it look like a gun "if someone didn't get a good look at it."

Rocchi was charged with first-degree robbery. He made his first appearance in Boyd District Court on Wednesday morning. He did not have an attorney at the hearing.

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

Police said a masked man flashed a knife at the Cigarette Outlet on Friday and forced one employee to the floor, then demanded money from another worker, Ruth Wright.

Instead of cash, Wright threw two cans of chewing tobacco at the robber, and one hit him in the face.

Officers said a customer then tackled the man, but the robber broke free and bolted out the door.

A cashier, Kittie Peacock, said the store had been robbed at least once before.

....not only that, but tobacco apparently repels knives and can cause cancer in lab rats !

_________________“he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions” (I Timothy 6:4)

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum